302 




Book ^2 



CuHn 



, n^ii.'//' 



AN 



ORATIOIN, ii5 



IN HONOR OF THE MEMORT OF 



C-EORG-E CLIHTON5 



Late fice-President of the United States. 

BELIVERED MAY 19, 1812, 
BY THE HON. GOVERNIEUR MORRIS. 



'7' ■7'BE HE.OUEST OP T'HE COMMON COUNCIL OF O'fiE CITi' OF 
KEfr'TOSK. 



NEW- YORK : 

PBINTED BY HARDCASTT.E ^' VAX PE i, t 

A''o. 86, A''assau-Stree:. 

1812, 



AN OKATION: 



Fellow Citizens, 

ANOTHER soldier of tlie revolution is 
gone. The few that now remain will soon have 
been ; and even while they linger may envy, 
perhaps, his earlier exit. For surely the view 
of public affairs may well inspire a doubt, 
whether those who loved the late Yice Presi- 
dent, should consider his death as a source of 
sorrow, or a subject of congratulation. He 
loved his country, he had contributed to her 
triumph and enjoyed her glory in the prime 
of youth and strength of manhood ; but, al- 
though, bending beneath the weight of age, 
he was doomed to behold her in a wretched 
condition which he could not amend, which 
he could not but deplore. 

Pardon a sentiment thus torn from my bo- 
som. We are not met to sacrifice on the al- 
tar of party spirit, but rather to sacrifice tliat 
spirit on a patriot's tomb. In his long and active 
life, having conciliated many friends, he must 
(for such is our lot) have had some enemieR, 



Those of honorable temper will bury their 
resentment in his grave, and listen without 
partiality to the naiTative of his life. It shall 
be simple and plain : for a Patriot's History 
must be his best panegyric. 

GEORGE CLIJS'TOJ^, was born of a re- 
spectable family, in Orange, then Ulster 
County, the 26th of July, 1739. His father 
at the head of a provincial regiment, under 
the orders of General Bradstreet, assisted in 
taking Fort Frontinac, at the mouth of Lake 
Ontario, in the year '58. His son George, 
then a lieutenant in the same service, de- 
scended the St. Laurence, in the year '60, 
under the orders of General Amherst. Thus 
his early education to arms prepared him, 
like the great Yirginian, for the scenes in 
^iliich they were destined to act. 

The war in America terminated that year 
by the conquest of Canada ; and young 
Clinton laying by his sword, applied to the 
study of law, under the direction of William 
Smith, one of the ablest advocates that ever 
yet adorned the Ear of New-York. He then 
settled in his native county, where the Royal 
Governor, George Clinton, acknowledging a 
remote consanguinity, liad given him a life es- 
tate in the Clerkship. He practised with repu- 
tation, and was cliosen a representative to the 



Colonial Assembly, of which he continued to 
be an active and able member, steadily oppo- 
sing every attempt to seduce or overawe tliat 
body into a compliance with the views of the 
British Government hostile to the liberty of 
America. 

Thus, before the controversy gi'ew up into 
a war, he had studied mankind, not in books, 
but in the world ; not in the closet, but in the 
camp ; and practically knew what reliance 
is to be placed on reason, what resource can 
be derived from hope and fear. But in read- 
ing the sacred volumes of our law, he had 
nourished his soul with the principles of lib- 
erty; and learnt to estimate, at their just va- 
lue, those rights, on the defence of which we 
staked our all. For it must be remembered 
that the war (on our part) was wholly defen- 
sive. It was not undertaken to acquire any 
new or splendid priviledge, founded on spe- 
cious metaphysical disquisition. No, we took 
up arms to defend the plain practical rights 
of our forefatliers. Tlie rights of English- 
men. The spontaneous disposal of our prop- 
erty, the security of our persons, the trial by 
our peers. We reasoned on principles of 
common sense. We fought for the benefits 
of common law. Neither did we (until com- 
pelled to it) cast off allegiance to the king- 



We merely refused submission to his sub* 
jects. 

In the beginning, opposition to their claims 
was general. But when it appeared that Bri- 
tish tyranny would be enforced by British 
power, the patriot ranks were thinned ; fair 
weather friends wavered. The zeal which 
depends on profit and loss grew cold. Minds 
enfeebled by the lore of ease, and hearts 
wliich shrink from approaching peril, aban- 
doned the cause, or confined their exertions 
to the circle of an empty wish. Let them not 
be condemned. There was matter to appal 
the braye. Britain was then in the zenith of 
glory. Her youthful king had closed a war 
of conquest, and dictated the conditions of 
peace. The wealth of India heaped up 
during ages of accumulation, was laid open 
to his subjects, and througli every channel of 
mercantile speculation, of military plunder 
was poured round liis throne. An army in- 
ured to war, and, from habits of danger, in- 
sensible to fear ; a fleet, beneath whose thun- 
der the deep caves of ocean shook ; these 
were the ready instruments of his will. And 
what could we oppose to such vast wealth 
and power ? We, feeble colonies, thinly scat- 
tered over a wide expanse, without revenue, 
without arms, almost without the common 



mechanic arts ; no union, no general govern- 
ment, no common sentiment, except, indeed, 
the sense of that injustice which had marked 
us victims to satiate and glut an avaricious 
prodigality ? 

In circumstances of this sort, cunning cal- 
culating politicians, might well believe what 
they did believe, and say what they did say ; 
that resistance was impossible, and therefore 
absurd. That the claim of the British Com- 
mons to give and grant the money of Ameri- 
can colonists, to accumulate our burdens in 
like grade and measure, as they diminished 
their own, and to feed their waste from our 
wretchedness, however unjust, would never- 
theless bear down, when aided by the ener- 
gies of royal authority, our feeble opposition. 
That we should be crushed like Avorms beneath 
the wheels of his triumphal car. But we 
knew that over this king, sat higli enthroned 
above all heights, the King of kings. We felt 
our cause to be just, and we placed it in the 
hands of Omnipotence. Such was the firm 
resolve of that first Congress, whose memory 
w ill be sacred and immortal. Such too the per- 
severing determination of their successors, 
among whom, on the 15th day of May, '75, 
George CJinton took his seat. On the eighth 



10 

of July the members then present signed their 
last petition to liis Britannic Majesty. Gov- 
ernor Penn, who delivered it, on the first of 
September, to a secretary of state, was told 
that no answer would be given. Such haugh- 
ty silence would not surprise those whose 
hamble petition to his majesty of the preced- 
ing year, had been answered at Lexington, 
from the mouths of his soldiers muskets. But 
it was a silence more expressive than the 
voice of thunder. It cried out havock, hope 
farewell, farewell union, liarmony and love. 
It was the creative voice that bade this wes~ 
tern empu^e into being. 

CHnton attended but little in Congress. 
He had an aversion to councils, because (to 
use his own words) tbe duty of looking out for 
danger makes m^n cowards. His temper 
and earliest iiabits trained him to the field. 
He was appointed a brigadier of militia, and 
served in that rank until the 25th of March 
'77, wlien the state having recommended to 
Congress, that a commandant should be na- 
med to the forts in the Highlands, that post 
of high trust and confidence was given to 
liim, Avith the rank of brigadier in tlie 
Continental army. How well he deserved it 
w as evinced by his gallant defence, when in 
the beginning of the next October, those 



II 

unfinished fortresses were stormed by the 
Bi^tish general, Sir Henry Clinton. Had 
the works been complete, or the garrison suf- 
ficient to occupy commanding positions in 
the rear, the assailants must have failed. Aa 
it was, the defence was such as to raise the 
apprehension of having theii' retreat cut off, 
should they remain in the upper Hudson 
long enough to make an useful diversion in 
favor of Burgoyne. That vaunting chief was 
therefore left to his fate. And thus the ob- 
stacles opposed in the Highlands, shed a pro- 
pitious influence on that northern campaign, 
whose brilliant issue at Sarratoga, arrayed in 
our defence the heads and armies of France 
and Spain. 

The situation of this state during the war, 
required every power of the mind, every en- 
ergy of the heart. The ravages and miseries 
wliich occasionally visited other parts of the 
Union, had here their permanent abode. — 
More than one half of our territory was in 
possession of, or laid open to the enemy, whose 
immediate policy it was to acquire the remain- 
der, and a large proportion of tliose who dwelt 
in it was favorable to his views. The few 
therefore who continued faitliful were culled 
out at every moment, in every direction, to 
resist invasion, repel incursion, er quell in- 



12 



siirrectioii. The cannon's r6nv {intl the sav- 
age yell were home on every hreeze. Uncul- 
tivated fields, ahandoned shops, the ruin of 
conflagrated dwellings wounded the eye of 
pity, and filled the sympathetic bosom with 
anguish, horror, and indignation. The patri- 
otic few, assailed by danger and pinched by 
want, were hourly tempted by the enemy with 
insiduous oifers of protection and abundance. 
These were the circumstances under which 
the convention closed its labors, by publish- 
ing the constitution in April, seventy-seven; 
and under these cu'cuni stances was Chnton 
chosen, in the succeeding month of June, to 
be both Governor and Lieut. Governor : for 
such was the confidence reposed in him, a 
confidence unshaken during eighteen years, 
and attested by six general elections. 

Between the second and the third, Indepen- 
dence was acknowledged, and the weary sol- 
diers were permitted to repose in the arms of 
peace. But who shall tell, what, during the 
interim, were his exertions to quench the 
sparks of conspiracy, to control the struggles 
of faction, to resist the iiu'oads of invasion,^ 
to repel tlie ravages of plundering foes, to 
squeeze, from the indigence of an exhausted 
people, supplies for that starving continental 
vjrmy, whose paper resources were but as 



13 



cliaif ; matter for tlie sport of winds, not for 
the support of war. This cannot be done in 
the compass of a discourse, nor in the page 
of history. A diary would be required and al- 
most the hourly note of events. Speak then, 
ye, who were the companions of liis labor, 
the witnesses of his zeal, the participators of 
liis care : speak ye, who yet remain of that 
generous legislature whose eye, fixed on free- 
dom, followed him firmly through the rugged 
road of virtue with gallant emulation, and the 
proud disdain of danger. 

At the close of November, '82, provisional 
articles of peace were signed at Paris, and in 
the autumn of the succeeding year, this city 
was evacuated by the British troops. Amid 
the general joy of those who returned from 
exile, the remembrance of privation, loss, in- 
jury and insult, was not wholly extinguished ; 
some who adhered to the enemy threw them- 
selves at his departure on the mercy of their 
fellow citizens. Those, therefore, who had 
abandoned their property, had quitted their 
abode, and for seven long years had fought 
and suftered in the cause of tlieir country, re- 
turning now cloathed in honorable rags, and 
scarred with honorable w ounds, met witli men 
who in '75 were bawling patriots, but now 
(after picking up the crums from lordly table?«- 



14 

of commissaries, quarter masters and con- 
tractors) were trickt out in the gorgeous livery 
of British opulence : such objects could not 
fail to excite sentiments of indignation. — 
These were infectious. They caught, from 
breast to breast, and endangered the public 
tranquility. Had the wrathful fire burst forth 
into outrage, it would have scorched the fiir- 
est plume of our fame. And yet how could 
such feelings be wholly represt ? 1 hat to con- 
trol them was a duty wliich every citizen owed 
both to liimself and to Ms country, and that 
public faith pledged, should be honorably re- 
deemed, are truths wliich we need not be told. 
These are truths wliich will be readily admit- 
ted by all in the cool moments of contempla- 
tion. But let that self sufficiency, wliich in 
such moments proudly condemns a sentiment 
inseparable from our nature, let it step from 
its soUtary chair into the crouded street ; let 
it be one of the throng, and it shall feel (from 
its impotence of self restraint) the necessity 
of legal conti'ol ; it shall reluctantly acknow- 
lege the magistrates authority to be indispen- 
sible. But the magistrate himself is subject 
to like feelings with his fellow-men ; Ms taste 
of passion is as theirs, but far greater his 
task ; he must not merely repress his own 
emotions, he must restrain theii's. This duty 



15 



the virtuous magistrate will perform. Cloatli- 
ed in the majesty of the laws he will treat 
tlieir enemy as liis own : but if in the croud 
he perceives a friend, then comes the trial; 
then throbs the heart; it is then tliat stem 
and awful justice must ner>e his soul; his 
eye must be turned away from his friend.— 
But how if it discovers none but friends, dear 
friends, about to avenge their common inju- 
ry on the common foe ? Now speak, ye who 
boast importm^able calmness of the mmd, 
when yet no ruffling tempest of passion, nor 
even a breeze of desu-e blows ; say, if (under 
such circumstances) pity should melt down 
the magistrate into a man ; will you yet con- 
demn ? It was in tliis condition— it was under 
these circumstances, that Gov. Clinton had to 
perform the severe duty of his office ; nor 
was it only for a moment nor a single occa- 
sion. Constant watchfulness, steady control, 
unbending determination marked his conduct, 
and justified, and renewed, and corroborated 
the confidence of his country. 

Then, too, began a contest of another sort. 
In the moment of danger office becomes an 
object of desire to men of honorable mind. 
In the sunshine of tranquillity it is sought af- 
ter for the sake of emolument, or to procure 
that consideration which incapacity cannot 



16 

otherwise acquire. Office hunting, therefore, 
of which (during the war) few or no symptoms 
had hecn perceived, hecame (at the peace) an 
cndemial disease. The constitution had pro- 
vided a check on appointments. So long as 
the governor hecame, hy his nomination, res- 
ponsible for the character he should select, 
and the council was confined to approve or 
disapprove ; so long the people had, in them, 
a security against the effects of misinforma- 
tion, the partialities of aff*ection, and the abu- 
ses of intrigue. But soon after the peace an 
attempt at nomination was made by members 
of the council : to this the opposition of Clin- 
ton was characteristically firm 5 he had the 
honorable pride to defend the rights of his 
office, and hold his shai'e of constitutional 
responsibilit3^ 

As to the general course of his administra- 
tion, it appears to have been directed by a 
conviction that the foundations of society re- 
pose onthe rights of property : a sacred regard 
to wbich can alone secure all others. His 
sound understanding, mellowed by reflection 
and experience, knew that, from tbe moment 
property becomes insecure, the incentives to 
industry are removed, and the principles of 
temperance and frugality destroyed : then ra- 
pine supplies the waste of prodigality : then 



the simple charms of virtue no longer res» 
pected : vanity (to supply the cravings of pro- 
fusion) throws itself into the arms of vice : 
all then is venal ; and if, in the general auc- 
tion, liberty be not set up to sale, it is because 
bidders would be wanting : for how, in the 
riot of licentiousness, can that be worth the 
purchase, which may be violated with impu- 
nity, but wliicli can no longer exist than while 
secure from violation ? 

In the year 1804, George Clinton took his 
seat, as Vice-President, in the Senate of the 
United States. From that period, until con- 
fined to the bed of death, he performed faith- 
fully the duties of his high station. To share 
in the measures of administration was not his 
part. To influence them was not in liis power. 
His sense of duty and his self command, in= 
duced him to be silent, or else to speak of 
them without censure, as without applause. 
Sometimes, however, for who can be always 
wise, his disapprobation broke forth. If he was 
wrong not cordially to approve our councils, 
charity will excuse something to the bias of 
early education, something to the habit of mi- 
litary life. Is it not pardonable in a soldier 
to believe the sword more powerful than the 
pen ? May it not be permitted, that a brave 
3 



18 



man should dislike threats ; that a man ac- 
customed to command, should be too proud 
to complain ? Must it be imputed as a crime, 
that he, who during eighteen years governed 
a commercial country, who saw (during one 
third of that period) the people suffer severe- 
ly, from the w ant of trade, and (during the 
other two thirds) a full tide of wealtli pour in 
through the wide deep channels of commerce, 
that he should question the policy of shutting 
those channels up, or diverting them to ano- 
ther shore ? In a w ord, will you blame (fel- 
low citizens) an old man, for preferring mea- 
sures, sanctioned by experience, to projects, 
however wise, which have seldom been tried, 
and, when tried, have failed of then* proposed 
object ? If so, accompany me to the tomb 
where his head is laid low: look on those 
hau's, grown grey in your service. Pardon, 
oh, pardon the w eakness of age, and shed one 
grateful tear on the ashes of a friend, whom 
you shall see no mor^. 



riNis. 



I.RBApVb 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




011 769 089 1 



